NASA announced on Monday that the launch of its Artemis I SLS-Orion spacecraft has been halted due to a problem with one of the rocket’s engines. Minutes after the spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today, the US space agency explained that the launch of Artemis I – NASA’s first step towards returning humans to the moon – had been scrubbed. Meanwhile, according to NASA, the next launch date will be announced at a later stage.
The Artemis I launch director halted the Artemis I launch attempt at 8:34 a.m. EDT (6:04 p.m. IST) Monday, NASA communications specialist Rachel Kraft said. Post On the Space Agency’s blog. According to NASA, the Orion spacecraft and the Advanced Space Launch System (SLS), designed to carry astronauts to the Moon in the future, remained in a safe and stable configuration when the launch was aborted.
“Launch controllers were evaluating why the bleed test to get the RS-25 engines at the bottom of the core stage up to the appropriate temperature range for liftoff was not successful, and the two-hour launch window did not time out. Additional data is continuing to be collected,” the space agency explained.
“We don’t launch until it’s right,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a briefing, explaining an engine bleed problem affecting one of the engines. “You can’t go, there are certain guidelines. And I think it’s a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all of that has to be worked out. And as long as you don’t have to light a candle, it’s ready to go,” he said. added
“We’re stressing and testing this rocket and spacecraft in a way that we would never do with a human crew on board. That’s the purpose of a test flight,” Nelson explained.
NASA is expected to announce the next Artemis I launch date in the future once the engine issues are resolved. The US space agency previously set backup launch dates for Artemis I launches on September 2 and September 5, but it is currently unclear whether the rocket will be ready for launch by those dates.
